Housing ‘crusade’ to boost new build projects

David Cameron’s pledge for one million new homes to be built by 2020 seems certain to give a much-needed boost to the UK’s construction sector – which will in turn lead to a shot in the arm for the fenestration industry over the next five years.

The Prime Minister’s Housing and Planning Bill was issued in October 2015 and promises to build 200,000 affordable new homes a year by overhauling laws on housing to include low-cost ‘starter homes’.

The Bill’s aim is to transform ‘generation rent’ in to ‘generation buy’ and is one of the most significant proposed sets of planning reforms of the last decade.

Mr Cameron said: “Nothing is more important… than ensuring hard-working people can buy affordable homes.… We will do everything we can to get Britain building and let more people have the security that comes with a home of their own.”

With this in mind, the next five years should be a busy time for fabricators and installers specialising in new build projects – and Liniar’s energy efficient PVCu profile provides the ideal starting point for developers looking for cost effective windows and doors.

Tony Basile, Business Development Director at Liniar, explains what the systems house is doing to help fabricators win more commercial contracts.

“We have a dedicated team at Liniar who are rapidly building relationships with the major construction companies. Tenders are coming in all the time and we’re helping our fabricators to win a high percentage of them.

“The Liniar website contains lots of information for specifiers and developers, and we’ve also created videos and bespoke literature to help them choose a PVCu profile company to work with.

A number of Liniar fabricators have already benefited from working in the commercial sector, such as Alternative Windows in Leeds. The company has been working with Keepmoat for a number of years, including supplying windows and doors for the Leeds City Centre PFI regeneration project (see the full case study here.

Darren Pratt at Alternative believes the Liniar system is ideal for large-scale projects such as these:

“Liniar’s lead-free profile goes through the factory much faster than other systems, so it’s more cost effective for us to manufacture. It’s also much easier to achieve an ‘A’ rated window, as we have to do less to it than we would with a different system, such as enhanced (and more expensive) glazing. Our installers also love fitting Liniar as it’s been designed to be fitter-friendly – so they’re on site for less time overall, helping with project completion deadlines.”

Rooms and Views in Buckley is another Liniar fabricator already seeing substantial increases in new build work, having recently won several large tenders with major housebuilders and with many more in the pipeline. Kevin McClure explains:

“At Rooms and Views we’ve been producing windows and doors for the new build market for sixteen years and have never seen such impressive growth in our order book as we have over the last 12 months. We have added several new national housebuilders to our portfolio of blue chip developers, which has had a positive impact at our manufacturing facilities in North Wales; in the last year it has enabled us to make major investments in completely new computer systems, a large factory extension and new premises for logistics, as well as a significant spend on new machinery. Most importantly, we have created many new staff positions, both locally and nationally.

“We believe our growth is not only due to the upturn in the new build market, but also the commitment to service delivery and the positive approach from our team at Rooms & Views. This, combined with the tremendous support of our systems house at Liniar, enables us to react effectively and efficiently to the demanding partner requirements of the housebuilder.

To find out more about why Liniar is perfect for the new build sector click here – and if you’re a fabricator/installer wanting to find out more about commercial opportunities, please contact the commercial team at info@liniar.co.uk

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